Retrieval and Quantitative Evaluation of Three-Dimensional Winds in Severe Convection with Multistatic Radar

Details

• Journal Title:
  Journal of Atmospheric and Oceanic Technology
• Personal Author:
  Emmerson, Samuel R. ; Palmer, Robert ; Bodine, David ; Schvartzman, David ; Kirstetter, Pierre ; Skinner, Patrick ; Fulton, Caleb
• NOAA Program & Office:
  OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; NSSL (National Severe Storms Laboratory) ; CIWRO (Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations)
• Description:
  Multistatic weather radar systems have the potential to provide three-dimensional wind information from both operational and research radars, given that each radar provides a distinct Doppler velocity measurement. A prototype multistatic network consisting of two passive receivers and the nearby operational KTLX Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) has been deployed in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. To achieve sufficiently precise Doppler frequency estimates while reducing system cost, transmitter/receiver synchronization is accomplished through direct-path measurements of the WSR-88D’s sidelobe radiation. Several cases of observed severe convection are presented, including instances of quasi-linear convective systems (QLCSs) and supercells. Multi-Doppler retrievals performed with the multistatic data are shown to resolve important structures in the three-dimensional wind fields, including mesocyclones. Quantitative analysis and evaluation of the retrievals are performed by comparison with simultaneous multi-Doppler retrievals done with monostatic radar data only, along with direct numerical comparison to independent radial velocity measurements. For the case analyzed under this framework, the multistatic system yields a mean error of −1.3 m s−1, compared to −2.8 m s−1 for the monostatic system. In addition, retrieved vertical velocities from the multistatic system are compared to a locally deployed vertically pointing radar providing additional system validation and error quantification for the vertical velocity field, where the multistatic system provides a stark improvement in retrieved vertical velocity over the monostatic system. This relatively low-cost technology has the potential to significantly expand the observing capabilities of the operational WSR-88D radar network.
• Keywords:
  Radar Severe Storms Severe Storms Weather radar signal processing
• Source:
  J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 42, 1167–1183
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.1175/JTECH-D-24-0155.1
• Format:
  PDF
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  Grant no. NA23OAR4590399
• Rights Information:
  Other
• Compliance:
  Submitted
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:905fc6c80ec7004389409b8ea1e436367c4d28ba271b71ca5cd2eb431d5179bfb2a630ed105b1079aa792ce89d68b0bd4fb2b3a3db1d68179a4d6baa7d0c8013
• File Type: